On finite simple and nonsolvable groups acting on homology 4-spheres

The only finite non-Abelian simple group acting on a homology 3-sphere—necessarily non-freely—is the dodecahedral group A₅≅PSL(2,5) (in analogy, the only finite perfect group acting freely on a homology 3-sphere is the binary dodecahedral group ). In the present paper we show that the only finite simple groups acting on a homology 4-sphere, and in particular on the 4-sphere, are the alternating or linear fractional groups A₅≅PSL(2,5) and A₆≅PSL(2,9). From this we deduce a short list of groups which contains all finite nonsolvable groups admitting an action on a homology 4-sphere.     

Asymptotic behaviors in the homology of symmetric group and finite general linear group quandles

A quandle is an algebraic structure which attempts to generalize group conjugation. These structures have been studied extensively due to their connections with knot theory, algebraic combinatorics, and other fields. In this work, we approach the study of quandles from the perspective of the representation theory of categories. Namely, we look at collections of conjugacy classes of the symmetric groups and the finite general linear groups, and prove that they carry the structure of FI-quandles (resp. $\mathrm{VIC}(q)$-quandles). As applications, we prove statements about the homology of these quandles, and construct FI-module and $\mathrm{VIC}(q)$-module invariants of links.     

Pre-Bloch invariants of 3-manifolds with boundary

Let M be an oriented hyperbolic 3-manifold with finite volume. In [W.D. Neumann, J. Yang, Bloch invariants of hyperbolic 3-manifolds, Duke Math. J. 96 (1999) 29-59. [9]], Neumann and Yang defined an element β(M) of Bloch group B(C) for M. For this β(M), volume and Chern-Simons invariant of M is represented by a transcendental function. In this paper, we define β(M,ρ,C,o)∈P(C) for an oriented 3-manifold M with boundary, a representation of its fundamental group , a pants decomposition C of ∂M and an orientation o on simple closed curves of C. Unlike in the case of finite volume, we construct an element of pre-Bloch group P(C), and we need essentially the pants decomposition on the boundary. The volume makes sense for β(M,ρ,C,o) and we can describe the variation of volume on the deformation space.     

Absolutely graded Floer homologies and intersection forms for four-manifolds with boundary

In Ozsváth and Szabó (Holomorphic triangles and invariants for smooth four-manifolds, math. SG/0110169, 2001), we introduced absolute gradings on the three-manifold invariants developed in Ozsváth and Szabó (Holomorphic disks and topological invariants for closed three-manifolds, math.SG/0101206, Ann. of Math. (2001), to appear). Coupled with the surgery long exact sequences, we obtain a number of three- and four-dimensional applications of this absolute grading including strengthenings of the “complexity bounds” derived in Ozsváth and Szabó (Holomorphic disks and three-manifold invariants: properties and applications, math.SG/0105202, Ann. of Math. (2001), to appear), restrictions on knots whose surgeries give rise to lens spaces, and calculations of HF⁺ for a variety of three-manifolds. Moreover, we show how the structure of HF⁺ constrains the exoticness of definite intersection forms for smooth four-manifolds which bound a given three-manifold. In addition to these new applications, the techniques also provide alternate proofs of Donaldson's diagonalizability theorem and the Thom conjecture for .     

Euler homology

We geometrically construct a homology theory that generalizes the Euler characteristic mod 2 to objects in the unoriented cobordism ring of a topological space X. This homology theory Eh _* has coefficients in every nonnegative dimension. There exists a natural transformation that for X = pt assigns to each smooth manifold its Euler characteristic mod 2. The homology theory is constructed using cobordism of stratifolds, which are singular objects defined below. An isomorphism of graded -modules is shown for any CW-complex X. For discrete groups G, we also define an equivariant version of the homology theory Eh _*, generalizing the equivariant Euler characteristic.     

Rohlin’s invariant and gauge theory,I. Homology 3-tori

This is the first in a series of papers exploring the relationship between the Rohlin invariant and gauge theory. We discuss a Casson-type invariant of a 3-manifold Y with the integral homology of the 3-torus, given by counting projectively flat U(2)-connections. We show that its mod 2 evaluation is given by the triple cup product in cohomology, and so it coincides with a certain sum of Rohlin invariants of Y. Our counting argument makes use of a natural action of H ¹ (Y;₂) on the moduli space of projectively flat connections; along the way we construct perturbations that are equivariant with respect to this action. Combined with the Floer exact triangle, this gives a purely gauge-theoretic proof that Cassons homology sphere invariant reduces mod 2 to the Rohlin invariant.     

Trivial cocycles and invariants of homology 3-spheres

We study the relationship between trivial cocycles on the Torelli group and invariants of oriented integral homology 3-spheres. We apply this study to give a new purely algebraic construction of the Casson invariant. As a by-product we get a new 2-torsion cohomology class in the second integral cohomology of the Torelli group.     

Existence of least area planes in hyperbolic 3-space with co-compact metric

Let r be a metric on the hyperbolic 3-space induced from an arbitrary Riemannian metric on a closed hyperbolic 3-manifold. In this paper, we will show that any smooth simple loop in S_∞² spans a properly embedded r-least area plane in . This solves Gabai's conjecture ((J. Amer. Math. Soc. 10 (1997) 37), Conjecture 3.12), affirmatively.     

Surgery on 3-manifolds with \mathbb{S} 1-actions

We study the topological structure of all 3-manifolds obtained by surgery along principal fibers of a closed orientable -manifold. As a consequence, we give alternative proofs of some classical results due to W. Heil and L. Moser. Moreover, we completely specify the Seifert invariants for the considered manifolds. Finally we classify the manifolds obtained by surgery along certain Seifert links and determine geometric presentations of their fundamental groups.Work performed under the auspices of C.N.R. (National Research Council) of Italy and partially supported by Ministero della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica within the projects Geometria Reale e Complessa and Topologia.     

Topological invariance of intersection homology without sheaves

In (1) Goresky and MacPherson defined intersection homology groups for triangulable pseudomanifolds and showed they were PL invariants. Then in [2] they generalized these groups to any pseudomanifold and showed they were topological invariants. These groups have generated a great deal of interest. However, [2] is difficult for many mathematicians (including this author) because it requires a familiarity with a great deal of hefty sheaf-theoretic machinery. This is too bad, because the basic ideas behind intersection homology (elucidated in [1]) are very geometric.In this paper we give a sheafless definition of intersection homology groups for an arbitrary stratified set and we give an elementary sheafless proof that they are topological invariants, i.e. independent of the stratification.In doing so, we find some new perversities whose intersection homology groups are topological invariants. Unfortunately, these new perverse intersection homology classes do not seem to intersect with anything (which is probably why they were ignored by Goresky and MacPherson). But in any case these groups are invariants of singular spaces which might be of some interest.     

Hausdorff dimension and dendritic limit sets

Let be a singly degenerate closed surface group acting properly discontinuously on hyperbolic 3-space, H³, such that H³/ has positive injectivity radius. It is known that the limit set is a dendrite of Hausdorff dimension 2. We show that the cut-point set of the limit set has Hausdorff dimension strictly less than 2.     

Rational homology spheres and the four-ball genus of knots

Using the Heegaard Floer homology of Ozsváth and Szabó we investigate obstructions to a rational homology sphere bounding a four-manifold with a definite intersection pairing. As an application we obtain new lower bounds for the four-ball genus of Montesinos links.     

Affine action and Margulis invariant

In this paper, we show that two Zariski dense subgroups consisting of hyperbolic elements in with the same marked Margulis invariant, are conjugate. We also consider in affine deformations an analogue of quasifuchsian deformation of Fuchsian groups.     

Orders and actions of branched coverings of hyperbolic links

Let M, M^′ be compact oriented 3-manifolds and L^′ a link in M^′ whose exterior has positive Gromov norm. We prove that the topological types of M and (M^′,L^′) determine the degree of a strongly cyclic covering branched over L^′. Moreover, if M^′ is a homology sphere then these topological types determine also the covering up to conjugacy.     

Embeddings of homology equivalent manifolds with boundary

We prove a theorem on equivariant maps implying the following two corollaries:(1) Let N and M be compact orientable n-manifolds with boundaries such that M⊂N, the inclusion M→N induces an isomorphism in integral cohomology, both M and N have (n−d−1)-dimensional spines and . Then the restriction-induced map Embm(N)→Embm(M) is bijective. Here Embm(X) is the set of embeddings X→Rm up to isotopy (in the PL or smooth category).(2) For a 3-manifold N with boundary whose integral homology groups are trivial and such that N?D³ (or for its special 2-spine N) there exists an equivariant map , although N does not embed into R³.The second corollary completes the answer to the following question: for which pairs (m,n) for each n-polyhedron N the existence of an equivariant map implies embeddability of N into Rm? An answer was known for each pair (m,n) except (3,3) and (3,2).     

Controlled topology invariants of translation actions

We develop invariants Ωn of a translation action of a group on Rm analogous to the Bieri-Neumann-Strebel-Renz invariants Σn. The invariants Σn were defined to be the set of “directions” e∈_∂∞Rm such that a suitable universal G-space is (n−1)-connected over the half-spaces defined by e. We replace half-spaces by topologically more natural neighborhoods of e to obtain the new invariants Ωn. The invariants Σn and Ωn are related as follows: e∈Ωn if and only if every e^′ in an open -neighborhood of e lies in Σn.     

Homology of dihedral quandles

We solve the conjecture by R. Fenn, C. Rourke and B. Sanderson that the rack homology of dihedral quandles satisfies for p odd prime [T. Ohtsuki, Problems on invariants of knots and 3-manifolds, Geom. Topol. Monogr. 4 (2002) 377-572, Conjecture 5.12]. We also show that contains Z_p for n≥3. Furthermore, we show that the torsion of is annihilated by 3. We also prove that the quandle homology contains Z_p for p odd prime. We conjecture that for n>1 quandle homology satisfies: , where f_n are “delayed” Fibonacci numbers, that is, f_n=f_n−1+f_n−3 and f(1)=f(2)=0,f(3)=1. Our paper is the first step in approaching this conjecture.     

Homological characterization of the unknot

Given a knot K in the 3-sphere, let Q_K be its fundamental quandle as introduced by Joyce. Its first homology group is easily seen to be . We prove that H₂(Q_K)=0 if and only if K is trivial, and whenever K is non-trivial. An analogous result holds for links, thus characterizing trivial components.More detailed information can be derived from the conjugation quandle: let Q_K^π be the conjugacy class of a meridian in the knot group . We show that , where p is the number of prime summands in a connected sum decomposition of K.     

Modelling supercoiled DNA knots and catenanes by means of a new regular isotopy invariant

This paper extends the knot polynomial classification of DNA knots and catenanes, by incorporating a measure of supercoiling. Cozzarelli, Millett, and White have used the Jones polynomial and the generalised 2-variable polynomial to describe the products of iterated Tn3 resolvase recombination and phage integrase mediated recombination. A new polynomial invariant, , is introduced; based on the regular isotopy invariants of Kauffman. The polynomial is an invariant of framed links and involves the Whitney degree of the link. This is useful because it not only allows a regular isotopy classification, but also distinguishes between plectonemic and solenoidal supercoils. The enzymes above require plectonemic supercoils for the synaptic substrate, so we put the polynomial to use to investigate the supercoiling of the recombination products.